(Commenting on Mark 15:15) The Romans first stripped the victim and tied his hands to a post above his head. The whip (flagellum) was made of several pieces of leather with pieces of bone and lead embedded near the ends. Two men, one on each side of the victim, usually did the flogging. The Jews mercifully limited flogging to a maximum of forty stripes; the Romans had no such limitation. The following is a medical doctor?s description of the physical effects of flogging.

The heavy whip is brought down with full force again and again across Jesus? shoulders, back, and legs. At first the heavy thongs cut through the skin only. Then, as the blows continue, they cut deeper in the subcutaneous tissues, producing first and oozing of blood from the capillaries and veins of the skin, and finally spurting arterial bleeding from vessels in the underlying muscles? Finally the skin of the back is hanging in long ribbons and the entire area is an unrecognizable mass of torn, bleeding tissue. (C. Truman Davis, "The Crucifixion of Jesus. The Passion of Christ from a Medical Point of View," Arizona Medicine 22, no. 3 [March 1965]: 185)

It is not surprising that victims of Roman floggings seldom survived.

(Commenting on Mark 15:17-18) The crown was made of some kind of prickly plant such as abounds in Palestine. This they pressed into his scalp. Again there must have been copious bleeding because the scalp is one of the most vascular areas of the body.

(Commenting on Mark 15:19) The mocking was followed by further physical violence. The blows hitting his head from the staff drove the thorns more deeply into Jesus? scalp and caused even more profuse bleeding. They also kept spitting on him?

(Commenting on Mark 15:20) At last tiring of their sadism, the soldiers tore the robe from Jesus? back. The fabric had probably stuck to the clots of blood and serum in the wounds. Thus when it was callously ripped off him, it caused excruciating pain, just as when a bandage is carelessly removed. Jesus? own clothes were now put back on him.

(Commenting on Mark 15:21) Men condemned to die by crucifixion were customarily required to carry the heavy wooden crosspiece (patibulum) on which they were to be nailed, to the place of execution. Jesus started out carrying his cross (John 19:17), but it proved to be too much for him. The patibulum usually weighed thirty or forty pounds and was usually strapped across the shoulders. One can hardly imagine the pain caused by the rough heavy beam pressing into the lacerated skin and muscles of Jesus? shoulders. The scourging of blood so weakened him that he could not go on carrying the heavy crossbeam.

(Commenting on Mark 15:24) Mark simply says, "And they crucified him." What incredible restraint! Especially when one considers that crucifixion was, as Cicero said, "the cruelest and most hideous punishment possible" (In Verrem 5.54.165). What took place physically is described by Davis ("Crucifixion of Jesus," pp. 186-187).

Simon is ordered to place the patibulum on the ground and Jesus is quickly thrown backwards with his shoulders against the wood. The legionnaire feels for the depression at the front of the wrist. He drives a heavy, square, wrought-iron nail through the wrist and deep into the wood. Quickly he moves to the other side and repeats the action, being careful not to pull the arms too tightly, but to allow some flexion and movement. The cross is then lifted into place.

The left foot is pressed backward against the right foot, and with both feet extended, toes down, a nail is driven through the arch of each, leaving the knees moderately flexed. The victim is now crucified. As he slowly sags down with more weight on the nails in the wrists, excruciating, fiery pain shoots along the fingers and up the arms to explode in brain?the nails in the wrists are putting pressure on the median nerves. As he pushes himself upward to avoid this stretching torment, he places the full weight on the nail through his feet. Again he feels the searing agony of the nail tearing through the nerves between the metatarsal bones of the feet.

At this point, another phenomenon occurs. As the arms fatigue, cramps sweep through the muscles, knotting them in deep, relentless, throbbing pain. With these cramps comes the inability to push himself upward to breathe. . . . Air can be drawn into the lungs but not exhaled. Jesus fights to raise himself in order to get even one small breath. Finally carbon dioxide builds up in the lungs and in the blood stream, and the cramps partially subside. Spasmodically he is able to push himself upward to exhale and bring in life-giving oxygen.

Hours of this limitless pain, cycles of twisting, joint-rending cramps, intermittent partial asphyxiation, searing pain as tissue is torn from his lacerated back as he moves up and down against the rough timber. Then another agony begins a deep, crushing pain deep in the chest as the pericardium slowly fills with serum and begins to compress the heart.

It is now almost over?the loss of tissue fluids reached a critical level?the compressed heart is struggling to pump heavy, thick, sluggish blood into the tissues?the tortured lungs are making a frantic effort to gasp in small gulps of air. . . . The body of Jesus is now in extremis, and He can feel the chill of death creeping through his tissues . . . . His mission of atonement has been completed. Finally he can allow His body to die.

All this, the Bible records with the simple words, "And they crucified him" (Mark 15:24).

Now that you know what Jesus experienced physically on the cross, read on to see what he said while he was dying in such excruciating pain. As you read these words, you will see the reason for his death and the greatest power in the universe - God's love for lost sinners. God's love for you.

This is the ultimate sacrifice. This is the greatest love that mankind has ever seen. Jesus, who is God, willingly left his throne in heaven, and became a man so he could suffer and die for you sin. You did the crime, he paid the fine.

Its been said that it wasn't the nails that held Jesus on that bloody cross (according the the Scriptures, he could have calleld on twelve legions of angels to rescue him) but his love for you! Can you see how much he loves you. Can you see that although you are not worthy of him, you are still of great worth to him. You know how much a thing is worth by how much people are prepared to pay for it. Consider your personal worth to God, as you look at how much he paid to save you from a deserved eternity in hell.

CLICK HERE to see if, (or rather how much) you deserve God's wrath and how you can be saved from it.